My team is about to launch a new web application, http://wethepixels.com, that requires a lot of people to be on the site at the same time for the concept to be successful.

Our team is preparing to promote/market an event for a specific date and time, in order to try to grab a large group of people to the site at once.

For those who have gone through a similar web launch, we would love to hear ideas on the best way to market for a large group in a relatively short period of time. We have created a Facebook page and a Facebook event, but it has yet to grab much attention (surprisingly to us). Is there a better way to attract a large number of users in a short period of time?

1 Answer
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Great ideas tend to promote themselves, but for most ideas (even fairly good ones, which I think your site qualifies as), it helps to "seed" the eventual viral marketing by getting the word out in the beginning. You can do this by putting out press releases on relevant online news sites and blogs (invite a popular blogger to review the site), by cross promotion if possible (e.g. include an announcement in a newsletter for one of your other sites), by submitting to web directories (e.g. GreatWebApps.com), and by traditional marketing (online or offline advertising).

Also, make it easier for people to promote your site:

create a share with friends form

include buttons for sharing on sites like digg, del.icio.us, reddit, stumbleupon, etc.

and include buttons that fans of the site can display on their own webpages or forum signatures

you can also encourage users to come to the site, tweet about the site, or invite friends to the site with prizes or on-site rewards.

Also, have you tried promoting it in the right communities? You don't need to spam or anything, but letting people on art sites like DeviantArt, Behance, Dribbble, CarbonMade, etc. know about your site would probably be more effective than posting on messageboards of non-art-related communities.